IS This Before or after Groundhog Day ? - 12:01 (1993) Discussion

[–] 17 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Z-12 17 years ago

Actually this show was a "revised" telling of a Showtime short film made a couple years before - in 1990. It stared actor "Kurtwood Smith" - now well known as "Red" on "That 70's Show" - as Myron Castleman, an office worker who just happens to retain him memory of each "time loop" that the world becomes stuck in.

<spoiler Below - in case you are interested in seeing this Showtime short version...>
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This original version did not have a "Happy Ending". It was truly a tragic story, which for me made it very compelling.
btw - Excellent acting by Kurtwood Smith.

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[–] btor718 17 years ago

What was the name of the Showtime version? I can't find it in Kurtwood Smith's credits and you've got me curious about it now.

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[–] nickhynes 17 years ago

It is called 12:01 PM and came out in 1990.

Also both this 1993 movie 12:01 and the 1990 Showtime 12:01 PM are both based on the 1973 short story 12:01PM by Richard Lupoff.

So this story way precedes the 1993 Groundhog Day.

Look up about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/12:01_PM

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Just forget you ever saw it. It's better that way.

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[–] Dejay 8 years ago

Just in case anyone wants to see it it's on youtube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVooyfaPYD8

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[–] dinosajur 17 years ago

I think that 12:01 was first, because Bill Murray was doing a parody on movies like Quick exchange in 1990 for original film Hold-Up with Jean Paul Belmondo from 1985.

Then, it make senses that Geoundhog day is a parody on 1993 for 12:01 like todays parodies Scary movie, Epic movie, etc.

All this years I was thinking that 12:01 made 1991, but apparently, I was mistake.

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[–] Superunknovvn 14 years ago

dude, what the hell?

"We learned more from a three minute record than we ever learned in school"

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[–] azure_halo 15 years ago

The Australian video release had as it's tagline:
'it's Groundhog Day meets Back To The Future'
so I would assume Groundhog came first.
But... you know what happens when you assume...

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[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] jbowmore 13 years ago

• 12:01 PM – 1973 short story by Richard A. Lupoff
• 12:01 PM – 1990 short film by Richard A. Lupoff, et al.
• Groundhog Day – 1993 (Feb.) by Danny Rubin, et al.
• 12:01 – 1993 (July) TV movie by Richard A. Lupoff, et al.

The people behind the TV movie made noise about suing the people behind Groundhog Day, however nothing came of it.

Even if they had sued, they would have lost. Under copyright law you cannot own an idea, only a particular expression of that idea. While the repeating day time-loop idea is similar, the expression of the idea in the two films is very different.

Having said that, it seems probable that Danny Rubin was inspired by Richard Lupoff, but not to the level of copyright violation.

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[–] tom_ungvarsky 12 years ago

I wonder how the short story compares to the movie. I'd like to find a copy of it.

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[–] vilafire 10 years ago

Groundhog Day rips off the same beats in the same order though.

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